IM 2 months away from the delivery room,  and I was to late to sing up for birthing classes so I'm basically on my own on what to expect.  I just want to know what other women went threw in the delivery room, and how the husbands comforted them??  That way I'm not too surprised when the time comes.  Thank you so much for your help

Hi Amy,

Classes helped me a little bit but some things I still wasn't sure about. My husband tried to help but my mom was there to and since she had done it before so she sort of stepped in and did most of it (don't think my husband was to happy about that).

I enjoyed having my lower back rubbed durring cantrations. It might also help to have a focal point like a stuffed animal that you bought for the baby. We also took soothing music and dvd's, didn't get to any of that until after our daughter was born.

Each person in differant, but you may get a burst of energy a couple days before you go into labor, thats how i knew i was having her that weekend. You can take your pillow for after labor.

You can try and take a tour of the hospital so that you know where you go and if you should call before you head in.

Good luck, and enjoy the last 2 months.

Amy, we took the lamaze classes but by the time I went in to labor, I had left my daughter's dad, so my best friend was in the room w/ me. I waited until my contractions were 5 minutes apart to go to the hospital & by the time we got there i was almost 6 cm dialated. Unfortunately it was like 1 in the morning, so my BFF was exhausted. She slept most of the time, & to be honest, it worked out best, because me personally, I didnt want anyone looking at me, talking to me or touching me.  I'll tell u what my friends told me "IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE DYING" ha ha.. some friends, right? But hey, it is what it is & at times I honestly felt like I was going to rip in half and literally die. But you know what? It's SOOO worth it.  I would personally suggest to stay calm. Dont waist your energy screaming or yelling. Save your energy for when its time to push. What helped me was the breathing. Remember to breathe w/ ea. contraction. And know there is a limit as to how strong they can get. I know I personally kept thinking "F*&K! Do they just keep getting stronger & stronger w/ no end in sight!!!??" I would close my eyes w/ ea contraction and count (out loud or in my head) figuring they cant go on forever. At first u'll count to 30 or so, then 60 or so, then 100 (depending on how fast ur counting) That really helped me as I knew there was an end to ea. contraction & that it would be coming soon. Oh and knowing each Contraction gets you closer to delivering helped me too. I figured you can only have so many, right?  Each one is just one down and ___ to go. Good luck & when all else fails, just remember we were made for this and women have been doing it for millions of years!!!

One more thing.. make sure your hubby gets some sleep before! Remember when your contractions first start, you'll still be able to nap between them so I suggest you both nap as you'll be up and needing your energy later.  I'd rather go thru the first of my contractions alone while hubby sleeps than have him exhausted once im in full blown labor. You also want to make sure he eats. Dont want him having to run out to get a bite at the hospital. Maybe packing some snacks for him in the over night bag may be a good idea. Oh, & you may want to apologize in advance for the way u may treat him in there.. ha ha ha. They say women get mean & bossy... Not my personal experience, but I can so totally see it happening.

Oh man.  I just typed this looonnnnggg response and of course I wasn't signed in.  Lost everything.

Here's some advice from someone who has braved the birthing room twice.  It's not very sophisticated advice, so be warned.  Nevertheless, it's the best advice I ever received in terms of having my kids.  I could have skipped all of my birthing classes had I known about this.

Here it is: If you are delivering vaginally, push like you are going to the bathroom.  Bathroom as in #2.  Sorry if that sounds gross, but I want to spare you unnecessary strain on yourself.  No pun intended.  This advice is coming from someone who pushed 30 mins the first time and 18 the second.  I'm tempted to see how long it would take with a third; however, pushing time is not a good reason to have another child!

Sure, I was embarrassed the first time.  Am I crapping all over the table?  Who knows?  Probably.  But you know what?  Who cares!!!  By the way, I forewarned my husband about all of this.  I said, "If you want to get a sneak preview of what you're going to be dealing with when I hit 70, go ahead and look."  I think the poor guy glanced down once and maintained a vacant stare ahead for the remainder of the time.

A friend of mine had a nurse tell her: "If you don't have a bowel movement on the table, I will be INSULTED."  I have no idea what that woman's idea of a compliment is.  But I digress.  You get the point.

Also -- be sure to drink lots of water while in the hospital.  It will help you in your recovery.

If the hospital has a nursery, make use of it.  You can be Supermom when you get home.  You'll spend the entire night staring at your little sweet bundle and miss out on the sleep you need . 

Sleep!  Sleep!  Sleep!

Warning: new babies sleep a lot the first couple of days.  I thought I gave birth to the Miracle Baby.  Boy, was I fooled.  ;)

Oh, and don't eat anything heavy or stupid before you get admitted to the hospital.  I was adament about making rigatoni & sausage in a vodka sauce as I was enduring labor contractions.  (You can't eat once you are admitted.)  All I can say is that it tasted & smelled a heck of a lot better the first time around.  And that's from someone who doesn't usually toss her cookies! 

And lastly... Opt for the epidural.  I realize it's a personal choice.  However, based on the blood-curdling screams I heard from women in rooms down the hall from me, an epidural is a good idea.

Good luck. And congrats and becoming a Mom!

Tara ;)

lol - ahh Tara, I had a good laugh, that was funny but so down to eart...labor day...what a day...no one in the world will be able to explain to you what' it feels like, Tara got pretty darn close...lol

I must say to wait until contractions are 5 minutes apart, around delivery day, rest, rest, rest, and sleep if you can (I couldn't I got tooo BIG) from both my pregnancies. here is my experience:

Baby #1 was induced, if u will be induced ASK for the epidural, contractions are toooo painful I guess because they were "induced" there was no 'warming' period on the pain tolerance. About food - I wasn't expecting to be induced so the night before I had a huge delicious mexican dinner went to the hospital the same night and wasn't able to eat until the next night...I was STARVING! (pushing time 1hr)

Baby # contractions started by themselves not nearly as painful as with my  first baby. Prior to the delivery date I started to eat only light meals. Also, thinking on how hungry I was the first time around, I had breakfast before going to the hospital. pushing time 10 minutes. And yes do it as if you were going to go #2.

Focus on your body while pushing...think if you are pushing with your face...I friend of mine got a few little vains pop in her eyes. Put all your strenght on your lower abdomen and try to relax your arms with my first one I was sore for a few days from holding on to the rail.

I didn't want my husband rubbing, massaging, touching...etc...not even talking I bothered me.

Good luck and blessing for you and your little one enjoy the moment and think that the more pain u get the more close u get to hold ur little one.

looks like you've already got several good stories, but I'll throw mine in too.  just remember, everyone's labor experience is different!  I started having some contractions on a saturday night and they kept coming and going until Monday afternoon when I was so exhausted I finally went to the hospital.  the contractions would get really strong and close together for a few hours and we would be getting ready to go to the hospital and then they would ease up for a few hours. when I finally decided to just go to the hospital to get checked I was 3 cm dialated. they had me walk the halls for an hour and then all of a sudden I was almost 5 cm dialated!  so, they admitted me.  I was going to try to have a natural birth, but after almost 48 hours with little to no sleep I was too tired to try it, so I got the epidural.  by the way, I did have a burst of energy the Friday before and saturday night when the contractions started i had diarrhea and vomiting.  i was pretty nauseated after that and didn't eat much until after the baby was born monday night. but, back to the epidural - I'm so glad I got it!!  it allowed me to rest up a bit before I had to push.  it did slow my contractions down, but they gave me pitocin to speed them up again.  also, my blood pressure dropped a bit with the epidural so they gave me some medicine to help that.  i also had an episomity and was surprised that they had to shave me down there for that.  basically right after i was admitted they shaved me in case I needed the episomity.  i guess i should have known about the shaving, but I didn't.  one other surprise I had after giving birth was a blood clot in my uterus, so i had to get some medicine to help with blood clots.  right after giving birth they push on your belly to get all the rest of the 'stuff' out of your uterus.  also, every few hours or so they will push on your belly to make sure you don't have any blood clots developing.  it hurts when they push on your belly!  also, for a few days after giving birth your uterus has contractions to help bring it back to it's old, small size.  these can be a little painful and usually come when you are nursing your baby.  hopefully this helps you.  good luck and take care!!  let us know how it goes!!

Joann is right.  Everyone has labor differently, so I'll throw my story in too.  A lot of people say from the beginning that they will get the epidural.  I think this is the wrong way to go.  I don't see anything wrong with getting it, and some people have a very hard time with pain, so it is sometimes best for them.  I would say to wait until you are there to make the decision.  When you go in, you can tell the nurse that you want to leave your options open.  I planned from the beginning to go all natural(if at all possible) but I still told me doctor I wanted to keep my options open.  I went into the hospital at about 10 pm and was 4 cm dialated.  I slept off and on through the night and at 6 am I was 6 cm dialated.  Between then and 8 am, I dilatedt o 8 cm.  The doctor had to break my water.  Up to that point, the contractions did not seem to painful.  Once my water broke, they started getting harder.  I had DH and my aunt in the room with me.  DH would give me ice chips and use a cool washcloth on my head.  My aunt would rub my lower back for me.  I had very bad back labor.  The massage helped tremendously.  It took from 8 am until about 10:20 to dialate the rest of the way.  At the point where you feel ready to push, the nurses may annoy you.  Mine did.  They kept telling me to wait and not push when my body was ready and wanted to do it on it's own.  I started pushing at about 10:35 and my son was born at 10:53 am.  Tara is completely right in regards to how to push.  If you deliver naturally, you need to push like you are doing #2.  It is kind of a weird thought, but you use the same muscles.  Up until I did it, I was worried about using the bathroom on the table, but honestly, once you are in there, it is the last thing on your mind.  I have heard of people who try pushing from their chest.  Those are the women who end up with black eyes and purple faces (from burst blood vessels from the wrong kind of straining).

I will also mention a couple of things that worried me going in the first time.  I was scared they were going to have to put a catheter in because I had heard they usually do.  I have never had one and was afraid it would hurt.  They ended up doing it, but they did so during a contraction, so I never felt it.  It was the same thing with the episiotimy.  The doctor did that during a contraction as well, so I didn't feel a thing.  Although I did not have an epidural (and have no plans to do so with any future pregnancy), I have heard/read that they really slow down labor.

I would also suggest this if you are planning to breastfeed.  Make sure your husband knows and tell him you need him to be your advocate.  You are going to be going through a lot during that time (obviously) and so you will probably not be up to handling everything yourself.  Sometimes (although not always) the nurses who work in the nursery will give a newborn sugarwater in a bottle to fill them up before giving them formula or breastmilk.  Most of the time, doing this will cause nipple confusion and will make nursing hard.  I made sure to tell my husband that I wanted my son to have absolutly nothing and that I was to nurse exclusively.  The hospital where I gave birth was very good about being pro-breastfeeding, so I didn't really have to worry.  One thing I would have done is probably take advantage of the nursery more though.  Although my husband stayed at the hospital with me, he did not get up when the baby cried.  Instead, I had to get out of bed, get my son, change his diaper, feed him, ect and then put him back down.  Looking back, I would probably have let him stay in the nursery at night and have them bring him to me to be fed.  I also would have probably stayed in the hospital a little longer, just to have some rest.  I gave birth at 10:53 on a Thursday and was home by 2pm on Friday. I think I would have stayed until Saturday so that I could have gotten one more night of sleep.

I hope our experiences help you and allieviate any worries that you have.  If you have any specific questions, you can email me at clmad82@gmail.com.  I would be happy to try to answer.  I would also recommend the book What to Expect when your Expecting.  It was a great resource for me.  Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

I was very nervous about the whole delivery process but for me it was no where near as bad as I imagined. I think it is different for everyone. I had an epidural which worked wonders. After the epidural began working properly, I did not feel pain. My husband and I actually played cards and watched TV. The monitor kept registering contractions but I barely felt them (and sometimes did not feel them at all). When the baby was ready to be born, I felt an intense pressure, but not a pain. Afterward, I had a lot of swelling from tearing at the time of the birth. If that happens, my recommendation, is to put ice on the area right away to keep the swelling down. Also, prior to going into labor, take some sanitary pads, pour witch hazel on them, then wrap them in saran wrap and freeze them. WHen you come home, you can use them. the coolness and witch hazel, really provide relief. Good luck!!!

I skipped the birthing classes too. I had an un-medicated water birth and to tell you the truth, your body is going to do what it's naturally going to do. To make the contractions more tolerable, DO NOT tense up. Just breathe through them. I just went into my own little world and listened to my ipod. You know, after watching countless episodes of "The Baby Story" labor wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. If you are able to move around and shower, do it. The shower REALLY helped with the back labor and so did a warm heating pad. Good luck to you!

Like others have said, labor is different for everyone.  Mostly, it hurts like hell...and you'd do it all over again if you had to, to see that adorable little face.

My first baby: Water broke, contractions 3-4 minutes apart from the get-go.  total labor time:3 hours.

2nd baby:  contractions 5-7 mins apart for a couple hrs before hospital, 5.5 hrs total labor time.

WHAT WAS THAT?!?!  was my reaction to labor pains the 1st time.  I had back labor.  the second time, not so much.  Try to focus on your breathing when the contractions hit, it won't take the pain away but it will help you stay focused, and it will help keep oxygen coming to your baby during the process.

In the weeks before you deliver, just be prepared, and stay well rested, hydrated, and fed because you don't know when, and you don't know how long it's going to take.  Have a game plan, and a backup plan in case your man has been having some beers and can't drive you, or if he's away for any reason (ie, have a backup driver on call, etc.)

Good luck! and it will all be worth it.  I promise.

I had really bad back pain the week before I went into labor. I never got that "burst of energy" everyone talks about. My contractions where really long and one kind of led into another. I went with the epidural so when I finally got that I was able to sleep a little. I know no one wants to have a c-section and I totally never read up on it thinking it was just not going to happen but it did (she was too big). So read some about what to expect after a c-section just in case. My hospital wasn't the greatest (referred to as the baby factory) so do some research ahead of time on the hospital you will be staying at. Let the nurses take the baby at night so you can sleep. I attempted breast feeding and the nurse sort of guilted me into keeping the baby with me at all times so I could strictly breast feed which turned out to be a nightmare while trying to recover from a c-section.